Fun Five: Janet Ruth Young

Nov 28, 2011 by shanyn

Fun Five
Janet Ruth Young

Author of
The Babysitter Murders
The Opposite of Music

1. What’s your favorite winter activity?
Cross-country skiing, although I’ve gotten out of the habit of doing it. Maybe this year!

2. Where do you go first in the grocery store?
The produce department. I love those tubs of fresh pineapple. I also scope out the marked-down produce, such as apples that are no longer crisp. I chop those and put them in my cereal.

3. How many umbrellas do you own?
Approximately four. One full-size one with a polka-dotted handle, which I bought in Paris, and four nondescript folding ones.

4. Where was your last big birthday party?
Earlier this month I had my annual birthday walk in Dogtown woods, a 3,000 acre wilderness in Gloucester and Rockport (made famous in the book The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant, and the inspiration for Dogville in The Babysitter Murders). Our group consisted of ten people and three dogs. The woods contains some granite boulders with mottos that were chiseled by Italian stonemasons as a work project during the Depression. After the walk most of the group came to my house for supper (Italian food from a local joint called Leonardo’s) and a poker game.

5. What is your favorite movie candy?
Raisinettes, because I’m trying to get some nutrition along with the chocolate.

About The Babysitter Murders:
Everyone has weird thoughts sometimes. But for seventeen-year-old Dani Solomon, strange thoughts have taken over her life. She loves Alex, the little boy she babysits, more than anything. But one day, she has a vision of murdering him that’s so gruesome, she can’t get it out of her mind. In fact, Dani’s convinced that she really will kill Alex. She confesses the thoughts to keep him safe, setting off a media frenzy that makes “Dani Death” the target of an extremist vigilante group.

Through the help of an uncoventional psychiatrist, Dani begins to heal her broken mind. But will it be too late? The people of her community want justice . . . and Dani’s learning that some thoughts are better left unsaid.

*Note: The paperback edition of The Babysitter Murders is getting a complete makeover (new title and cover) so the hardcover edition as shown here is a collector’s item :)

Janet Ruth Young’s Website
Janet Ruth Young on Twitter
Add The Babysitter Murders on Goodreads
Buy The Babysitter Murders on Amazon

From JanetRuthYoung.com:
Janet Ruth Young, who lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, graduated from Salem State College and from the creative writing program at Boston University. She was a co-editor of the literary magazine stet and a founder of Writers’ Circle, the writing workshop at the Cambridge Women’s Center. Her travel articles and book and theater reviews have appeared in The Boston Globe and other local publications. She left her job as an editor at a publishing company to pursue a career as a novelist.